[IC] Swords Beneath the Starlight

Sunny blinks as the Captain sprints away. Past him... billowing smoke, and who knows what else?



"Ah! I have just the tome for this! A perfect opportunity for a field study!" Sunny runs over to her pack, digging through it for one of her spellbooks. Once it was located, she quickly shouldered the pack and ran after the Captain. There was danger and, more importantly, research afoot! And damned if Sunny was going to stay here.

Lyander wordlessly followed after the Cap'n!

"Ah, hell, alright. Let's go, Morven!"

Logan follows the Cap'm!

Time to go! Mazelina follows the Captain and her friends as well! Gotta have the healer around!

Baylee smiles at Mazelina for the bread and gives her a nod of thanks. As soon as she hears and sees the commotion, she stuffs the piece of bread into her mouth and puts away her water.

"Awwrite 'eryone, we gotta stick together. Les all go after 'em. Soft people stand behind me"
She says, mouth partly filled with food. She grabs her items and heads off after everybody.

You emerge over a hilltop to find a horrible scene! A village, burning to the ground! A man with a bloodied sword engaging Captain Brenden in the field!



"You bastard! You'll pay!!!"



Brenden strikes with an Iron Axe! He misses!

Lorot strikes with an iron sword! He hits for 6 damage!

Lorot strikes once more! Critical hit! 18 damage!

Brenden falls!



"Urgh..."



"Pathetic..."

The man turns his back. He doesn't seem to have noticed your group.

Oh, no. This is bad. Very, very bad. Captain Brenden was hurt, and Mazelina must help. Dore would want her to help, but this was also about what she wanted.

Gotta help. Mazelina rushes forwards, hoping her friends will follow, and prepared to reach the Captain and get him healed up!

Lyander was shocked at the death of the seemingly invincible and not at all scripted to die Captain Brenden!



"NO! You'll pay for that!" he yelled, rushing at the mean village-burning jerk intending to SLAY HIM.

Sunny takes a moment to observe the burning village for any signs of a familiar Revotrian presence before following Mazelina and Lyander, tome at the ready.

Oh shit. Well, that was bad.

...

Several tons of wingéd reptile and one foolhardy peasant, coming in hot.

Bringing up the rear, Casey is one of the last to lay eyes on the situation. The sight of flames and blood is enough to break Casey's composure, even if only for a moment. This is only the second time he's seen destruction like this, and the sight of Brendan's crumpled form is enough to freeze him in his tracks. He couldn't be....could he?

Airitech gives a hrmph. Another village down. Airitech seen a lot of burning villages in his life and he concluded: Revotrians have no sense of honor, attacking the weak and the defenseless.

The armored man seemed dangerous and it seemed that foolish peasant (the armored one, not the lizard one) had that taken care of. He's going to scan the horizon/fog-of-war for any soldiers coming in to join the craic.

Bay was sweating. That guy took care of the captain easily. If the captain couldn’t handle him there’s no way she could. She looks at the people running in and swears. Thems people need protectin’. Baylee heads out to the front of the line to back up the others running there. She takes one glance at Brenden and steels herself. She won’t let that be her.

Milo, bringing up the rear, manages to just catch Brenden go down.  He goes to suggest something about keeping together and almost panics looking for Retrovians, but immediately half of the group runs in after their fallen leader.  All rushing after someone who took down Brenden like it was nothing despite a collective lack of fighting experience.

He turns to Casey and Airitech.


"Sorry, but I need to help them on the front.  This will do a lot more good there."  He motions to his lance, before slinging it off of his back and charging forward to join the others.

The sound of Milo's voice is what snaps Casey back to reality. The stakes are too high for him to be standing around spacing out! With or without their captain, they're still safest if they stick together, and that's enough reason to follow Milo onwards.

"S'fine. This place is becomin' a real shitshow and we need our lads to be doin' their jobs. I'll back you up, cuz we're 'friends.' Ha!"

He will follow after Milo because there is a certain limit to distance an arrow can fly you know. The double-edged sword of archery...

The strange looking gaunt man barely turns his head to look at you lot and smiles. He raises his hand.



"Take care of the rabble."

And all at once, as he disappears into the trees, a legion of enemies emerges!





"ALRIGHT LADS, you heard the boss! Get on it!"



Enemy stats here!

Oh. Shit. This is actually happening.  They are going after everyone's lives. She pulls out her old Hatchet and grips it tightly as she lets out a battle cry and charges to the man north of her.

" You'll be taking no more lives today!" She bellows at him and swings vertically into his side.

Baylee engages a bandit in combat!

Baylee's stats

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84 hit
4 speed
9 eva + 15
1 dodge
6 crit
10 dmg
4def +1

Bandit stats

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BANDIT
WEAPON: Iron Axe
HP: 24
HIT: 79
AS: 3
CRIT: 1
AVOID: 6 + 15
DODGE: 0
DAMAGE: 15
DEF: 3+1

TOTALS

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BAYLEE:
73% hit, 6 dmg on hit 6% crit
BANDIT:
55% hit, 10 dmg, 0% crit

Baylee swings! She hits - 6 damage!

The bandit counters! Miss!

BANDIT: 18/24 HP
BAYLEE: 22/22 HP

EXP: 2/100

Sunny spends a few moments flipping through her tome, lips pursed. Her eyes light up when she finds the page she was looking for.



"Ah, my apologies friends!" She calls out, scurrying past her traveling companions. "But I've just been dying to try out my studies in a live interaction!" And with that, Sunny places a hand on one of the pages. When she pulls it up, tube like protrusions of shadow rise from the page, connecting her tome and her glove, and they bathe her grinning face in shadow. Sunny yanks her hand away, and the worm shaped magic arcs through the air at the bandit that has caught her eyes.

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Sunny moves three spaces to the right and attacks the bandit she can reach with Worm

Sunny rushes forward and casts an invocation!

SUNNY STATS

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WEAPON: Worm
HIT: 90
AS: 2
CRT: 7
EVA: 5
Dodge: 1
DMG: 10

BANDIT STATS

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BANDIT
WEAPON: Iron Axe
HP: 24
HIT: 79
AS: 3
CRIT: 1
AVOID: 6
DODGE: 0
DAMAGE: 15
DEF: 3
RES: 0

TOTALS

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SUNNY
84% hit, 10 dmg, 7% crit

Sunny's tome vibrates with mysterious power...

W O R M

A blast of dark burrows its way into the bandit! 10 dmg!

SUNNY: 18/18
BANDIT: 14/24

4/100 XP

Axes.  Damn.  Milo never could get the hang of beating them back during training or combat, but now Brendan was down and a lot of his newfound allies were caught out in the open.  Despite the bandits' imposing sizes and deadly looking weapons, he hefted his lance and looked over at the closest one.  Baylee could hopefully keep his nearby friend occupied, but it looked like it'd be up to him and the kid to distract him from the less combat inclined.

He steels himself just before Sunny runs out and fires... something awful at him.  The magic of Progress was, of course, nothing new to the ex Retrovian soldier, but it still made him shudder to see it strike a living thing.  At least she was on their side - and besides, there were bigger things to worry about now.


"Lyander, Casey, I don't think I'll be able to take him down alone.  I could use your help finishing him off."

With that he charges forward, jumping in between Mazelina and the bandit and strikes with his lance.

"Mazelina, get behind me!  We can't afford to lose anyone else!"

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Milo moves up two and right one, attacking the bandit to his right.

MILO'S STATS

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Weapon: Slim Lance
HIT: 92
AS:  3
EVA: 8
CRIT: 6
DODGE: 2
DMG: 10
DEF: 6

TOTALS

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MILO:  71% Hit, 6 dmg, 6% crit
BANDIT: 86% Hit, 10 Dmg, 0% Crit

Milo lunges, lodging his spear into the bandit's shoulder!  6 damage!
The bandit swings back, plunging his axe into the lancer's shoulder! 10 dmg!

Bandit: 8/24
Milo: 10/20



EXP: 6/100

Oh, no! If Milo is hurt, Mazelina would move to the south of him, then reach deep within herself and will that away! Gotta keep her teammates up so they can get to the Captain!


"Be careful, everyone! Try to stay...let's all stay close!"

Mazelina raises her staff into the air! It glows faintly with a power wholly opposite of that wielded by Sunny! Warmth courses through the soldier as she HEALS MILO for 15 hp!

MILO: 20/20 HP!

EXP: 8/100